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Written by: Yazann Romahi , Chief Investment Officer of Quantitative Beta Strategies and Lead Portfolio Manager of JPMorgan Diversified Alternatives ETF at J.P. Morgan Asset Management
With investment returns around the world declining, investors have increasingly been looking beyond traditional asset classes to pick up incremental returns and further diversify their portfolios. That’s where the potential of alternatives comes in, says Yazann Romahi, Chief Investment Officer of Quantitative Beta Strategies at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Lead Portfolio Manager of JPMorgan Diversified Alternatives ETF (JPHF). Once only available to institutional investors, alternative strategies are becoming more mainstream and accessible to individual investors.
A new take on diversification
Alternative strategies are a very important source of diversification in investor portfolios, as they can give investors access to liquid, low-cost and transparent investment styles that were previously only available through illiquid and high-cost investment vehicles. This means investors today have a much wider choice of investments available to build efficient portfolios.
A typical balanced investor can look at investments such as alternatives in two different ways:
First, as a return enhancer. For example, an investor could reduce exposure to low-risk assets such as fixed income, which has been a diversifier of choice. We believe that going forward, this is unlikely to be the case given rising rates and low yields. Therefore, replacing some fixed income exposure with alternatives allows for increased diversification and potentially enhanced returns at a similar level of risk.
Second, as a risk diversifier. Reducing one’s equity exposure to allocate to alternatives can help mitigate overall portfolio risk – and, just as important, drawdowns – while achieving an enhanced Sharpe ratio, or risk-adjusted return.
A new take on diversification
Alternative strategies are a very important source of diversification in investor portfolios. A typical balanced investor can look at investments such as alternatives in two different ways:
First, as a return-enhancing diversifier where traditional diversifiers may no longer be effective. For example, an investor could reduce exposure to low-risk assets such as fixed income, which has historically been a diversifier of choice. We believe that going forward, fixed income’s ability to diversify and deliver attractive returns is likely to be diminished given rising rates and low yields. Therefore, replacing some fixed income exposure with alternatives allows for increased diversification and potentially enhanced returns at a similar level of risk.
The chart below illustrates how alternatives (as represented by a broad hedge fund index) work. Historically, when the stock market was up, hedge fund strategies captured 44% of the upside. But when the market was down, hedge funds participated to a lesser degree. Similarly, when bonds performed well, hedge funds captured much of the upside; when bonds were down, hedge funds were actually slightly up.
Alternative beta: A rules-based approach
Alternative beta is a new category that allows investors to access the systematic components of hedge fund strategies. In other words, it provides a rules-based approach to capturing various hedge fund styles, in contrast to active hedge fund strategies. Because they are rules based, these types of strategies can enable investors to access the same type of returns in a more transparent, and consequently cost-efficient, fashion than was historically the case.
More specifically, the rules-based approach to capturing hedge fund styles is referred to as hedge fund beta . It should be noted that this is very different from what are referred to as hedge fund replication approaches. Hedge fund replication approaches tend to be top-down, regression-based analyses that are fundamentally backward-looking. Alternative beta, on the other hand, is bottom-up, investing in the same way as a hedge fund – by going long or short individual securities in a systematic fashion.
Risk management is core to the investment process. In a strategy designed to act as a diversifier to traditional asset classes, it is important to continuously monitor incidental or idiosyncratic risk, which refers to the risk that is uncorrelated to the overall market risk, such as company-specific risk. For example, the investment team monitors market beta, sector beta and duration on a daily basis and adjusts when necessary.
This is the approach we take in managing the JPMorgan Diversified Alternatives ETF (JPHF). The Fund provides hedge fund exposure by diversifying across three hedge fund strategies: equity long/short, event-driven and global macro strategies.
JPHF: A diversified approach to hedge fund exposure
JPHF’s allocations across the equity long/short, event-driven and global macro strategies are dynamic and reflect the opportunity within each strategy. Over a market cycle, each strategy is designed to contribute an equal amount of risk to the overall portfolio. However, at any one point in time, these risks can differ substantially from the equal risk case.
For example, the event-driven strategy’s allocation is based on the number of opportunities (events) identified. The strategy may have a lower allocation at times when there are simply not many merger deals going on between companies; the fewer the deals, the more limited opportunity there is for an event-driven strategy like merger arbitrage.
Each of these strategies has its own set of dynamics and the strength of the whole comes from diversification benefits across several levels – within the strategies themselves, within the Fund and within an investor’s overall portfolio level.
Implementing JPHF for investor portfolios
JPHF can be used as a core diversifier to a traditional portfolio. Investors seeking enhanced returns at a similar level of risk to their bond portfolios may want to fund an investment in JPHF from their fixed income allocation. Alternatively, investors seeking enhanced risk-adjusted returns, but less risk – and, crucially – improved drawdown characteristics, may want to fund an investment in JPHF from their equity allocation.
Looking for an alternative to enhance diversification in your portfolio?
For investors looking to further diversify their overall portfolio, JPMorgan Diversified Alternatives ETF (JPHF) seeks to increase diversification and reduce overall portfolio volatility through direct, diversified exposure to hedge fund strategies using a bottom-up, rules-based approach.
Learn more about JPHF and J.P. Morgan’s suite of strategic beta ETFs here .
Call 1-844-4JPM-ETF or visit www.jpmorganetfs.com to obtain a prospectus. Carefully consider the investment objectives and risks as well as charges and expenses of the ETF before investing. The summary and full prospectuses contain this and other information about the ETF. Read them carefully before investing.This document is a general communication being provided for informational purposes only. It is educational in nature and not designed to be a recommendation for any specific investment product, strategy, plan feature or other purpose. Any examples used are generic, hypothetical and for illustration purposes only. Prior to making any investment or financial decisions, an investor should seek individualized advice from a personal financial, legal, tax and other professional advisors that take into account all of the particular facts and circumstances of an investor’s own situation.